Moms-to-be who eat junk food may not only be harming their unborn child, but could also be putting their future grandchildren at risk of breast cancer, a new study has claimed.

Moms-to-be who eat junk food may not only be harming their unborn child, but could also be putting their future grandchildren at risk of breast cancer, a new study has claimed. Researchers have carried out the study and found that mothers can pass the legacy of an unhealthy diet onto their daughters and granddaughters, raising their odds of breast cancer, the Daily Mail reported.

For their study, the researchers fed some pregnant rats normally and gave others the same amount of calories but in a much fattier form. They then looked at breast cancer rates in the animal’s daughter and granddaughters, both of which were fed normally. Despite this second and third generation not gorging on fatty food, they were up to 60 per cent more likely to develop breast tumours than other rodents.

The researchers, from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Washington, then tried to work out how something that happened in pregnancy can go on to affect the health for generations to come. They showed that it wasn’t due to the junk food diet raising levels of estrogen, a hormone that fuels the growth of breast tumours.